Various forms of fireplace inserts heretofore have been provided for accomplishing more efficient heating of the interior of a building as a result of a fire within the fireplace and with the fire consuming a lesser amount of wood. However, most of these previously known fireplace inserts are constructed in a manner to provide less than maximum pass of air to be heated over heated surfaces of the fireplace inserts with the result that considerable heat of combustion from the fire within the fireplace insert passes outwardly therefrom with the flue gases. In addition, many previously known forms of fireplace inserts have a healthy appetite for fuel (wood or coal) to be burned therein and the expense of heating the interior of a residence with such a fireplace insert is not much less than the expense of heating the same residence interior as the result of operation of a conventional central heating system.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved form of fireplace insert which may be utilized to effectively heat the interior of a residence while burning a minimum amount of fuel.
Examples of various forms of fireplace inserts and other devices including some of the general structural and operational features of the instant invention are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,255,493, 2,052,643, 2,642,859, 2,703,566, 4,015,581 and 4,166,444.